by Pete Wildman | Jul 4, 2018 | Circuit News
OASIS is a lunch club run by a team of volunteers at Greasby Methodist Church. We meet fortnightly on a Wednesday serving home made soup with a roll, sandwiches, fruit, cake and a cup of tea. During the meal a Christian message is given by one of our team – Rev. Ken Owen, our local Anglican vicar, our own ministry team, Rev. Kim Goh and Judith Stelfox, and other invited speakers. During the 6 weeks of Lent we met each week and followed the “I am” sayings of Jesus. We had 50 people attend each week and were able to send £400 to Christian Aid.
Throughout the year we have an average of 30 people attending and it is a wonderful time of sharing food, fellowship and a Christian message with our church members, our Anglican friends and the wider community.
by Pete Wildman | Jul 4, 2018 | Circuit News
Exciting times at Greasby! Here are just some of the ways we are working with families in our community.
Hope Journey
Hope Journey is now enjoyed by all three schools in the local community – Brookdale Primary School, Greasby Infants School and Greasby Junior School – a programme which has built up over six years.
- Epiphany – Journey with the Kings (Year 1)
- Meet The Characters (Year 2)
- Cre-8 (Year 4)
- Cross Factor (Year 5)
- Remembering (Year 6)
This year we are also presenting Explore for Year 3 and Sharing Parables for F2, so that the children can attend Greasby Methodist Church once a year for a different Hope Journey. At the end of this academic year nearly every child in the Greasby community will have visited us, as well as the staff and many parents who accompany the children. Children are presented with a gift bag which may include a story book, gift (a pencil or bracelet), prayer cards, colouring leaflets, a welcome to GMC, an invitation to Messy Church, a Say One for Me request card – as well as a sweet treat! We hope our gospel messages are shared with families at home. This year we will have welcomed 529 children and 79 adults into church. The evaluation feedback is amazing – they just want more!
Messy Church
Messy Church has been offered every third Saturday (except August) since September 2014. We follow a traditional format – a welcome with refreshments, a time of activities (food, craft, games) learning about the theme, followed by family worship and a meal together to talk about what we have been learning. Whilst attendance averages over 70, it was a joy to welcome 90+ for a Messy Christmas. This year we combined Messy Christmas with a Christingle, which was very much appreciated by all. Our feedback forms (placed on dinner tables) ask two questions – Today was good because… and ‘Even better if…. Through this we have learnt that families want Messy Church every week. What a challenge! But the Lord continues to provide and meet our every need and we continue to thank Him for this wonderful opportunity to share the gospel with families in Greasby.
Ecumenical Assembly Team (EAT)
Greasby Methodist Church works in partnership with St John’s Anglican church as EAT, presenting assemblies at each of our three local schools on alternative weeks. Following The Greatest Story Ever Told, the children hear an introduction, the story taught through drama, a Christian message, a lively action song and a closing prayer. In addition, children, staff and parents from the three schools attend Christmas services at St Johns’. The Junior School visit the Methodist Church for an Easter Celebration in Lent each year – 380 attended this year! All Year 6 children are presented with a copy of the Scripture Union ‘It’s Your Move’, signed and jointly funded by the churches. Church members attend Harvest celebrations and also support the schools in other ways – listening to readers , and as members of the Governing Body. What a joy and a privilege that the schools allow us to share the gospel so regularly with all members of the school community.
Sue Elliott
by Pete Wildman | Jul 4, 2018 | Circuit News
Wow! What a project and what an impact we had on our communities!
We had heard from other areas of the country who had delivered angels in the past, but, truth be told, we were not prepared for the level of response that we received.
About 35 people came together at the Angel Dedication Service on 6th December to bless the Angels as they went out to be a blessing to others. Eleven churches, and some ecumenical partners, took angels, with some being kept to share in the areas around the Circuit Centre. After dark on 11th December they were placed in the local communities – bus stops and train stations, shops and doctor surgeries, on school railings and in many other places.
So that we could get a sense of people’s responses to finding the angels, we asked people to forward items from Social Media or other sources. They were first distributed on the Monday evening and the responses started around 8.30pm. Many were about how the angels had made people smile on a dull morning.
Some, though, were very meaningful. One lady wrote about how her son had been taken to be with the angels earlier in the year and this angel that the lady had found helped her to know he is safe. Another said that her husband had died a few days before; she was feeling alone and the angel had reminded her that she wasn’t.
The beauty of the angels is that many were taken to be put on Christmas trees; at the beginning of January they will have been packed away in a box and hidden away, but in December 2018, they will come out again and just maybe people will see an angel and remember that it was a gift of shared love at Christmas from their local church.
Last year we managed 1665 and would love to surpass that number this year. So please get your knitting needles out and start knitting. Angels have already started to appear in the Children and Schools Work office and we would love to have many more to join them. If your church is interested in being involved with distributing angels in Advent 2018, please get in touch with the team and let us keep sharing the Good News of Christmas in as many ways as we can.
Thank for all those who participated and we look forward throngs of angels arriving with us and going out to others as a sign of God’s love to them.
Emma, Nic, Nick and Rachel, Children and Schools team
by Pete Wildman | Sep 12, 2017 | Circuit News
Friday Club wishes to thank everyone for the donations of money, socks and underwear, packets of food and seeds, tin openers, plasters, trainers and any other items to the above charity.
Thank you to those who helped in any way on the day of the visit and to those who helped with packing the stationery bags. We were able to give the children, their leaders and their helpers a lovely lunch. A bag containing lots of stationery was given to each child and the leaders. They were also presented with a greetings card made by Friday Club, hats, mittens and scarves knitted by the Coffee and Craft group, and a hat especially for the ice skating session knitted by Eileen Perkins, along with gloves donated by David from Little Sutton Pharmacy.
A donation of £1764.00 was presented to the charity at the farewell party. We were once again overwhelmed by the extent of your support for these children who do not enjoy a lot of the things we take for granted. The report of the Children’s visit is attached.
Thank you once again for the part you played in helping us with this venture. We could not do this without you, our church family and friends, along with our circuit friends and other churches.
Thank you to Wilkinson’s, ASDA and Sainsbury’s for their support and also to The Art & Craft Factory in Huddersfield for pencil cases and craft materials.
Click here to download a report of the visit.
Marion and Kathy, Little Sutton
by Pete Wildman | Aug 30, 2017 | Circuit News
Willaston Chapel were delighted to be awarded First Prize and The Greenwood Trophy in the Flower Arrangement Class for WIs ,Churches and Organisation at this year’s Willaston and District Horticultural Show. The theme was ‘Let’s Celebrate 70 years of the Society’. There is talk of a new Chapel polishing rota to keep the cup clean until next year’s competition!
by Pete Wildman | Jul 21, 2017 | Circuit News
Saturday 8th July saw the St Luke’s church youth group and Bromborough’s Late Night Lock In join together for an evening of fun and fellowship on the beach at Hoylake.
Various games were played, including two highly competitive games of beach rounders. The young people (and older helpers!) from each church were spread across the two teams to help get to know each other. Light snacks and drinks were kindly provided by St Luke’s.
The evening finished with a prayer led by Peter Reast and a commitment for Bromborough to return the hospitality later in the year.
Thanks to all those who organised and took part in what was a fun filled evening. – Alan Brown
